20160528 Day Trip with New Friend-Carrie

Just couple days ago, the IYDU chairman, Jason, opened a group discussion on Facebook and invited Sonny, Lucy (Vice-CEO of Zephyr Foundation) and I and his friend from the States who would have a 12-hour layover in Taiwan, thus Sonny decided to took me with his car to pick Carrie up at the airport. The weather was perfect through the whole day, there’s a traditional ceremonial activity that took place in Zhonghe, close to where I live. We first went there to see the parade, it was quite similar to Hakka’s festival. 

Can you see the drone over there?

This activity was held in hope to have a good harvest throughout the year because that day was said to be the Famer God’s birthday. Later on, we proceeded to the airport although we were a bit late. Carrie was very on time, so we could head to the famous Ramen restaurant. The store was located in a hidden alley, and we couldn’t find the name of it, just called it “NTD50 Ramen”.

 Since Carrie just came back from her trip to Cambodia, she shared lots of things happened there. Lucy and her family (husband and two toddler kids) was already at the culture park where out next stop was. It’s called Qiding Railway Cultural Park, there were two tunnel that were built in 1928, during Japanese colonial period, on the wall of the tunnel, you can still see the bullet holes, besides all that, Qiding is a name of a train station, so it’s easy to approach.

 Lucy’s kids were so cute, they just made my day, it’s been a long time since the last time I played with toddlers. Also, the Taiwan see is next by, so families can enjoy the beauty nature then have fun at beach. On the way, we stopped by a tea shop to buy bubble milk tea, I knew she would love it, I was right. Undoubtedly, pearl milk tea is one of the most iconic food travelers must try! Our last stop was to Sanyi to attend Hakka Fire Dragon Festival, it was a very local event, and Carrie happened to be the only foreigner at that occasion. Everyone was watching her, but she said she didn’t feel uncomfortable, when I was in Germany, I also had to deal with that feeling. We observed serval dragon performances, some by school kids, we were so amazed to see that they could move the dragon body so smoothly, very vivid. To that end, the kids had to step on other’s thigh or lean on each other’s body, much more sophisticated than I could expect, we really watched a world-class performance from this kids. 

After the show, we were preparing to make a dragon lantern, but there were too many people, so we simply roamed on the street. All of a sudden, we found a painted stairway, it drew our attention and we took some cool photos. 

Time flies, we had to be back to the airport by 20:00 to make sure she can catch her flight.

 Within just one day, we had been to so many place thanks to Sonny’s driving the car, and I’m proud to say we maximize the time when Carrie was here, I believe she really experienced the beauty of Taiwan and she also has the potential to be an anchor of a travelling channel, when she stood in front of the camera and started introducing what she just felt, she was very genuine and with so much passion.

Welcome to Taiwan!!

Sonny quickly made a video of our trip, the link is here, please check it out: 外國人玩台灣—凱莉 Foreign travelers in Taiwan—Carrie (中文/English)